Other forms: turnips
A turnip is a round white root vegetable with a purple top. Mashed turnip, a field of turnips, peel the turnip.
In Scotland and northern England the word often means the swede, which is yellow and bigger, and the confusion is permanent. Turnips fed livestock through winter and made year-round farming possible. Jack-o'-lanterns were carved from them before pumpkins.
1nounturnipA round white root vegetable with a purple top.
“My grandmother made a thick soup with turnips and potatoes.”
turnip is a vegetable.
Probably turn plus the older English nep, from Latin napus, a turnip. The turn may refer to the round shape.
Middle English
turnepe
English, today
turnip
From Middle English turnepe, probably from turn + Middle English nepe, from Old English nǣp, from Latin nāpus. The component turn may be due to the round shape of the plant as though turned on a lathe, or because it must be turned and twisted to be harvested. Cognate to neep. See also parsnip.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA